Carlos Soto Arriví
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The Cerro Maravilla murders, also known as the Cerro Maravilla massacre, occurred on July 25, 1978, at
Cerro Maravilla Cerro Maravilla is Puerto Rico's fourth highest peak at . It is located on the northern edge Barrio Anón in Ponce, close to the border with the municipality Jayuya, and is part of the Cordillera Central (Central Mountain Range). It is known ...
, a mountain in
Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...
, Rafael Torrech San Inocencio. El Sur a la Vista. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 18 October 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2011.''Topographic Map of Barrio Anon, Ponce, PR.''
US Geological Survey. Lat/Long: 18.1523°N 66.5549°W. Elevation: . Drg Name: r18066b5. Drg Source Scale: 1:20,000. Projection: NAD83/WGS84. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
wherein two young Puerto Rican pro-independence activists, Carlos Enrique Soto Arriví (born December 8, 1959) and Arnaldo Darío Rosado Torres (born November 23, 1953), were murdered in a
Puerto Rico Police The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safe ...
ambush. The event sparked a series of political controversies where, in the end, the police officers were found guilty of murder and several high-ranking local government officials were accused of planning and/or covering up the incident. Originally declared a police intervention against
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
s, the local media quickly questioned the officers' testimonies as well as the only surviving witness for inconsistencies.
Carlos Romero Barceló Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...
( PNP), then
Governor of Puerto Rico The governor of Puerto Rico () is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. Elected to a 4 year-term through popular vote by the residents of the archipelago and island, ...
, ordered the local
Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
to launch various investigations, and asked the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
(FBI) and the
US Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equi ...
to aid in the investigations, which concluded that there was no wrongdoing on the officers' part. However, after the main local opposing political party (PPD) launched its own inquiries, new evidence and witness testimonies surfaced which uncovered gross negligence and murder on the officers' part, as well as the possibility of a local and federal cover-up. Trials were held and a total of 10 officers were convicted of various crimes. The incident and subsequent events have become one of the most controversial events in Puerto Rico's political history, frequently called "the worst political cover-up in the history of the island". The event is often used by Puerto Rican independence activists as an example of
political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...
against the independence movement. Joy James commented that "the Cerro Maravilla massacre demonstrated the reason why colonialism was banned in the world."


Background

Puerto Rico was discovered by
Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus (; between 25 August and 31 October 1451 – 20 May 1506) was an Italians, Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed Voyages of Christopher Columbus, four Spanish-based voyages across the At ...
on November 19, 1493; it was first colonized by
Juan Ponce de León Juan Ponce de León ( – July 1521) was a Spanish explorer and ''conquistador'' known for leading the first official European expedition to Puerto Rico in 1508 and Florida in 1513. He was born in Santervás de Campos, Valladolid, Spain, in ...
in 1508. Despite being welcomed by the indigenous
Taíno The Taíno are the Indigenous peoples of the Caribbean, Indigenous peoples of the Greater Antilles and surrounding islands. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the principal inhabitants of most of what is now The ...
people, the Spanish settlers began to exploit the Taíno as labor for gold mining and crop growing. After failed revolts, the Taíno accepted Spanish rule as less harsh than the
British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
. Spanish colonists began to have children with the Taíno, creating a culture, while the indigenous culture disappeared due to hard labor, European diseases, and tough Spanish rule. Spain imposed tough trade policies upon its colonies, prohibiting the trade of most goods with other countries and colonies. In the 16th century,
sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...
was found to be a profitable crop; when the Taíno failed to harvest it effectively, slaves were imported from Africa. While other crops were introduced over the next two centuries, sugar remained the most profitable. Spanish trade policies caused smugglers to begin a
black market A black market is a Secrecy, clandestine Market (economics), market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality, or is not compliant with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the set of goods and services who ...
, which traded with the British,
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, and nearby islands. Entrenched in war, Spain failed to enforce its trade policies, which caused Spanish ships to be targeted by the Spanish and British. When Spain allowed neutral countries to use Spanish ports, the United States used its ships to transport goods from Spain to its colonies but desired greater influence over the colonies. In 1868, a small group of Puerto Ricans staged a rebellion against Spanish rule, the , which seized the mountain town of
Lares Lares ( , ; archaic , singular ) were Tutelary deity#Ancient Rome, guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been hero-ancestors, guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries, or fruitfulness, or an ama ...
, but was quickly shut down by Spanish authorities. In the aftermath of the
Ten Years' War The Ten Years' War (; 1868–1878), also known as the Great War () and the War of '68, was part of Cuba's fight for independence from Spain. The uprising was led by Cuban-born planters and other wealthy natives. On 10 October 1868, sugar mil ...
for Cuban independence, slavery was outlawed in Puerto Rico in 1873; in an 1896 agreement brokered by autonomist
Luis Muñoz Rivera Luis Muñoz Rivera (July 17, 1859 – November 15, 1916) was a Puerto Rican poet, journalist and politician. He was a major figure in the struggle for political autonomy of Puerto Rico in union with Spain. In 1887, Muñoz Rivera became part ...
, Puerto Rico was given an autonomous local government as well as representation in the Spanish government. After the sinking of the USS ''Maine'' on February 15, 1898, the U.S. launched the
Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...
on May 1; the
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
landed on the town of Guánica during the Puerto Rico campaign on July 25. The U.S. seized control of the island after three days, with only 26 fatalities: 17 Spanish soldiers, five American soldiers, and four civilians. Spain signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, where it agreed to an independent Cuba, selling the Philippines to the U.S. for ( in ), and ceding Guam and Puerto Rico.


Victims

Carlos Enrique Soto Arriví was born on December 8, 1959, in
San Juan San Juan, Spanish for Saint John (disambiguation), Saint John, most commonly refers to: * San Juan, Puerto Rico * San Juan, Argentina * San Juan, Metro Manila, a highly urbanized city in the Philippines San Juan may also refer to: Places Arge ...
. His parents were Pedro Juan Soto (one of the most admired Puerto Rican novelists in the 20th century) and Rosa Arriví. He had an older brother (Roberto Alfonso) and a younger brother (Juan Manuel). As a student he enjoyed
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
. He also wrote stories and went on to win second place in a competition held by the Puerto Rico Department of Education. When his parents went to Europe to finish their doctoral studies, he learned to speak
French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...
in a year. Upon returning from
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
, he enrolled at the Escuela Superior República de Colombia, a
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
in
Río Piedras Rio or Río is the Portuguese and Spanish word for "river". The word also exists in Italian, but is largely obsolete and used in a poetical or literary context to mean "stream". Rio, RIO or Río may also refer to: Places United States * Rio, Flo ...
, although in a lower grade, because the school officials did not want to credit his years of overseas study. Although Soto Arriví was interested in social issues from a very young age, his political activism started when he joined a pro-independence group in
high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...
.''Nation: Death at Cerro Maravilla''
from ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' May 14, 1979.
Arnaldo Darío Rosado Torres was born on November 23, 1953, in
Old San Juan Old San Juan () is a historic district located at the "northwest triangle" of the San Juan Islet, islet of San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan. Its area roughly correlates to the Ballajá, Old San Juan, Ballajá, Catedral, Old San Juan, ...
. His parents were Pablo Rosado and Juana Torres Aymat. Rosado finished his high school studies and went to work at a cracker
factory A factory, manufacturing plant or production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. Th ...
. Dario Rosado was married to Angela Rivera, and had a son called Manuel Lenín Rosado Rivera. From a very young age, Rosado identified with the cause of Puerto Rico's independence. He joined the
socialist Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
league with which he participated in several activities. Rosado was an
autodidact Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning, self-study and self-teaching) is the practice of education without the guidance of schoolmasters (i.e., teachers, professors, institutions). Overview Autodi ...
and an avid reader of various kinds of
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...
, especially those related to the political processes of Puerto Rico and
Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
. He also wrote
poems Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...
,
essays An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...
, and had several
pen-pal Pen pals (or penfriends, penpals, pen-pals) are people who regularly write to each other, particularly via postal mail. Pen pals are usually strangers whose relationship is based primarily, or even solely, on their exchange of letters. Occasiona ...
s throughout Latin America.


Incident

Around noon July 25, 1978, Carlos Enrique Soto Arriví and Arnaldo Darío Rosado, two independence activists of the Armed Revolutionary Movement (), along with undercover police officer Alejandro González Malavé posing as a fellow group member, took taxi driver Julio Ortiz Molina hostage in Villalba and ordered him to drive them to Cerro Maravilla where several communication towers were located. Their original plan was to take control of the towers and read a manifesto protesting the imprisonment of
Puerto Rican nationalists Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Oriental Mi ...
convicted of the 1950 assassination attempt on U.S. President
Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. As the 34th vice president in 1945, he assumed the presidency upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt that year. Subsequen ...
, the 1954 United States Capitol shooting incident where five members of Congress were injured, the commemoration of the July 25 Constitution Day observance, the day U.S. soldiers landed in Puerto Rico in 1898."Ex-agent Acquitted of Kidnapping in Puerto Rico"
, ''The New York Times'', February 22, 1986, retrieved August 2, 2006
State police officers were alerted of their plan prior to their arrival and the activists were ambushed and shot.
by Laura Rivera Melendez (AP) ''The Puerto Rico Herald'', September 15, 2003, retrieved August 2, 2006

, ''The New York Times'', October 21, 1984, retrieved August 2, 2006

, ''The New York Times'', August 11, 1980, retrieved August 2, 2006
The undercover agent received a minor bullet wound during the shooting, while the taxi driver was left relatively unharmed.


Initial statements

The morning after the shootings, the officers argued that they acted in
self defense Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in tim ...
, stating that they ordered the activists to surrender, at which time the activists started shooting at them and they returned fire. Initially, the taxi driver said he was under the dashboard of his cab when the shooting started and could not see who shot first, although he contradicted his statement a few days later in an interview with the '' San Juan Star'', a local newspaper, stating that he ducked under the dashboard of the car after the three men (the two activists and the undercover agent) left the car, and that he saw "10 heavily armed men" approaching. When he emerged from the car, he saw the three men alive and two of them were being beaten by the armed men, who were later identified as policemen. Then-Governor of Puerto Rico
Carlos Romero Barceló Carlos Antonio Romero Barceló (September 4, 1932 – May 2, 2021) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1977 to 1985. He was the second governor to be elected from the New Progressive Party (PNP). He als ...
( PNP) praised the officers in a televised address by calling them “heroic”, stating that they acted in self-defense and stopped a terrorist attack. Two days later, in a follow-up interview by
WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the flagship and namesake station of Guaynabo-based WAPA Media Group. WAPA-TV maintains studio facilities on Luis Vigoreaux Avenue ...
news reporter Enrique Cruz, the taxi driver stated that when the first shooting occurred, he heard one of his three passengers shout "I'm an agent! Don't shoot me, I'm an agent!" while the others called for help and shouted "I give up! I give up!".Television interview (in Spanish) of Julio Ortiz Molina by
WAPA-TV WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish-language independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is the flagship and namesake station of Guaynabo-based WAPA Media Group. WAPA-TV maintains studio facilities on Luis Vigoreaux Avenue ...
on July 27, 1978
He saw "10 heavily armed men" approaching, later identified as police agents, when the three passengers exited the car, and the taxi driver was ordered at gunpoint to exit the vehicle. He was extracted by an agent, kicked, and taken away from the scene. While being escorted, he saw the two activists directly in front of his vehicle being beaten by the armed men.


First investigations

Facing public pressure due to the taxi driver's conflicting statements, Governor Romero Barceló ordered two separate investigations by the P.R. Justice Department in addition to the ongoing standard Police investigation, all of which concluded that the officers' actions were free of any wrongdoing, despite various inconsistencies in their stories. P.R. District Attorney Pedro Colton informed reporters on July 29, four days after the incident, that the P.R. Justice Department's investigation revealed "no massacre, no beatings, and no aggressions, except for the shootings that occurred in Cerro Maravilla". Opposing political parties, mainly the Popular Democratic Party (PPD), insisted that the investigations were just cover-ups and demanded that a special independent prosecutor be assigned to investigate. Two special investigations by the U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division and by the U.S.
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
(FBI) were performed on separate occasions between 1978 and 1980, which confirmed the conclusions of the P.R. Justice Department that the officers acted in self-defense."Ex-Justice Official Cites 'Coverup' By FBI in '78 Puerto Rico Shootings"
by Jim McGee, ''The Washington Post'', May 9, 1992, retrieved August 2, 2006


Second investigations

In the November 1980
general elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...
, Governor Romero Barceló was re-elected by a margin of 3,503 votes (one of the closest in Puerto Rico history), though his party lost control of the
state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...
to the main opposition party, the PPD. This loss was attributed by ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' to the surrounding controversy regarding the investigations at the time. Other news organizations, such as ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'', attributed the loss to Gov. Romero Barcelo's stance on the island's political status. The Legislature quickly started new inquiries and hearings into the Cerro Maravilla incident. The Senate, then presided by Miguel Hernández Agosto, spearheaded the investigations by naming former Assistant
District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...
Hector Rivera Cruz to investigate. The second investigations performed between 1981 and 1984 by the legislature, the U.S. Justice Department headed by
Daniel Lopéz Romo Daniel commonly refers to: * Daniel (given name), a masculine given name and a surname * List of people named Daniel * List of people with surname Daniel * Daniel (biblical figure) * Book of Daniel, a biblical apocalypse, "an account of the activi ...
, and the local press uncovered a plot to assassinate the activists and a possible, though not conclusive, conspiracy to cover-up these actions. During interviews of the Senate Investigations Committee in 1983, officer Miguel Cartagena Flores, a detective in the Intelligence Division of the Puerto Rico Police Department, testified: “When I arrived at the scene I saw 4 police officers aiming their guns at the two activists who were kneeling before them. I turned my eyes away and heard 5 gunshots.""Puerto Ricans Were Kneeling When Killed By Police, Officer Says"
, ''The New York Times'', November 30, 1983, retrieved August 2, 2006
Cartagena, who was offered
immunity Immunity may refer to: Medicine * Immunity (medical), resistance of an organism to infection or disease * ''Immunity'' (journal), a scientific journal published by Cell Press Biology * Immune system Engineering * Radiofrequence immunity ...
for his testimony, added that several hours before the shooting, he and other officers were told by Col. Angel Perez Casillas, commander of the Intelligence Division, that “these
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
s should not come down (from the mountain) alive.” His testimony was corroborated by officer Carmelo Cruz who, although he did not witness the fatal shooting, confirmed many details provided by Cartagena when also granted immunity. Other inquiries obtained similar testimony from witnesses, including the taxi driver who now stated that the activists were “alive and disarmed” when the police removed him from the scene. The taxi driver stated that there was a short exchange of gunfire, and when he was removed to another place nearby he heard a second volley of gunfire, but was asked by the police and investigators of the PR Justice Department to forget about the second round of shots. The statement regarding two different volleys of shots was upheld by various people, including ex-officer Jesus Quiñones before a Federal
grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...
(he quit the force shortly after the shootings), and three other civilian witnesses in a ''San Juan Star'' interview. Subsequently, the
legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...
and local press started questioning the actions of the
Puerto Rico Police The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Puerto Rico, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safe ...
, the Puerto Rico Justice Department, the
U.S. Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the Unite ...
, and the
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...
actions during the first investigation, alleging corruption within the agencies and a conspiracy to cover-up evidence. Letters were sent by various community and political leaders to then
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a Standing committee (United States Congress), standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the United States Departm ...
chairman Senator Edward M. Kennedy, asking for an inquiry into the conduct of the Federal investigations. Several letters even accused former
US Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government. The attorney general acts as the principal legal advisor to the president of the ...
Benjamin R. Civiletti of providing aid to Gov. Romero Barceló during the investigations. Two leaders from the opposing parties, the Popular Democratic Party and the
Puerto Rican Independence Party The Puerto Rican Independence Party (, PIP) is a social-democratic political party in Puerto Rico that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from the United States. Those who follow the PIP ideology are usually called ''independentist ...
, charged that after a December 1979 meeting between the two, the Governor, then considered as a lifelong Republican, began campaigning to deliver the 41 Democratic Party convention votes of the island for President
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...
's (D) nomination for the presidency (ironically, Carter's opponent for the nomination was Senator Kennedy). Almost 45 days after President Carter won the nomination by only one delegate, the U.S. Justice Department announced that due to lack of evidence it was bringing its investigation of the case to an end. A Justice Department internal memorandum that was issued the same month of Romero Barceló's and Civiletti's meeting later proved that the investigations were closed even when agents were still investigating important evidence of the case that could potentially incriminate the officers, including “several unexplained contusions” on a victim's face and the fact that one of the police officers recanted his original story, stating that there was in fact “two bursts of firing”. These and several other accusations brought public and political pressure to the investigating agencies. This led to internal revisions of evidence and procedures from the first investigations both at the local and federal level, though all organizations still adamantly denied any cover-up. These second investigations led to reassignments, demotions and resignations among top officials within the PR Justice Department, including three different P.R. Secretaries of Justice (equivalent to
State Attorney General The state attorney general in each of the 50 U.S. states, of the District of Columbia, federal district, or of any of the Territories of the United States, territories is the chief legal advisor to the State governments of the United States, sta ...
) accepting and resigning their posts in a span of six months."10 From Puerto Rico Police Indicted on Cover-Up of '78 Killings"
by Reginald Stuart, ''The New York Times'', February 7, 1984, Retrieved August 2, 2006
On November 29, 1983, three prosecutors were relieved of their duties after a report by the state Senate Investigations Committee found they had failed to properly investigate the Cerro Maravilla shootings, citing 101 specific deficiencies in two investigations. This was the third state Attorney General to oversee the investigations since the shootings occurred in 1978.


Aftermath

The second investigations led to ten officers being indicted and found guilty of perjury, destruction of evidence, and obstruction of justice, four of which were convicted of second-degree murder in 1984. The convicted officers, who were no longer on
active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. Indian The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one of the largest active service forces in the world, with almost 1.42 million Active Standin ...
, and their status with the Puerto Rico Police were: # Col. Ángel Pérez Casillas (head of the
Puerto Rico Police Department The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety (PR DPS), ...
Intelligence Division during the incident; suspended) # Lieut. Nelson González Pérez (resigned) # Lieut. Jaime Quíles Hernández (suspended) # Officer Juan Bruno González (suspended) # Officer William Colón Berríos (suspended) # Officer Nazario Mateo Espada (suspended) # Officer Rafael Moreno Morales (suspended) # Officer Luis Reverón Martínez (on disability leave) # Officer Jose Ríos Polanco (suspended) # Officer Rafael Torres Marrero (on disability leave) That same year, in the general elections held in November, Romero Barceló lost his gubernatorial seat against former governor and opposing party rival
Rafael Hernández Colón Rafael Hernández Colón (October 24, 1936 – May 2, 2019) was a Puerto Rican politician who served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1973 to 1977 and 1985 to 1993 for a total of three terms. An experienced politician, Hernández held the ...
(PPD). It is widely accepted that Romero Barceló lost the elections because of this case, since his public opinion rating had deteriorated substantially during late 1984 as the investigations progressed, and since his political rivals used his defense of the officers as an indication of a possible conspiracy.


Undercover agent murdered

Alejandro Gonzalez Malavé, the undercover agent who was accompanying the activists, was not indicted for his part in the slayings because he was granted immunity for testifying against other officers, but was removed from the police force due to public pressure. In February 1986, he was acquitted of kidnapping the taxi driver. His lawyer had argued that he was acting under orders and, therefore, it was the government who was actually guilty of kidnapping. This, despite the testimony presented by officer Carmelo Cruz who had testified that it was Gonzalez who recklessly endangered the hostage's life. The prosecution had provided evidence that he threatened the hostage at gunpoint, drove the car, and, when the car approached the mountaintop, refused to free the hostage despite suggestions from the activists. These actions, according to officer Cruz, were contrary to standard police procedures since his primary concern should have been the safety of the hostage. Nevertheless, the
Puerto Rico Police Department The Puerto Rico Police (PPR; , ), officially the Puerto Rico Police Bureau (, ), is a law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over the entire Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. It is a division of the Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety (PR DPS), ...
did not reinstate Gonzalez as an active police officer, a fact that he publicly expressed resentment over, and subsequently threatened to provide incriminating evidence to the media about other individuals involved in the shootings unless reinstated."Cerro Maravilla a 25 años: Lo que queda por esclarecer"
(25 Years After Cerro Maravilla: What’s Left to be Clarified) by Yaritza Cardona Mercado, WRTU Radio Universidad 89.7 FM, July 24, 2003, retrieved August 2, 2006
On the evening of April 29, 1986, just two months after his acquittal, Gonzalez was assassinated in front of his mother's house in Bayamón. He sustained three gunshot wounds and his mother was slightly injured. A few hours later, a group identifying itself as the “Volunteer Organization for the Revolution” called local news agencies claiming responsibility. In their statements they swore to kill, "one by one," all the policemen involved in the deaths in Cerro Maravilla."Police Agent in Puerto Rico Deaths is Assassinated"
''The New York Times'', May 1, 1986, Retrieved August 2, 2006
The FBI considered it one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the United States at the time, given that it was the same organization that claimed responsibility for an attack on a
Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...
bus in Puerto Rico on December 3, 1979, in which two Navy men were killed and 10 people injured, and the attack on a
U.S. National Guard The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the U.S. military's reserve components of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force when activated for federal missions. To this day, no one has been identified as a possible suspect in Gonzalez's murder, and the case remains unsolved.


Public apologies

In 1992, former US Justice Department Civil Rights Division chief Drew S. Days III admitted before the P.R. Senate that the U.S. Justice Department and the FBI acted negligently during the 1978–1980 investigations of the Cerro Maravilla incident, such as rejecting interviews with key witnesses (including the taxi driver), refusing to offer immunity to certain witnesses, and avoiding various standard investigating tasks. Days stated: "I think that certainly an apology is justified with respect to the way the federal government handled its investigation: the FBI, the Justice Department, and my division... it was not done in the professional way that it should have been done." FBI Director William S. Sessions had made similar concessions in a written statement in 1990, stating: “In hindsight, the eyewitness should have been interviewed and a civil rights investigation initiated”. In 2003, 25 years after the incident, former Gov. Romero Barceló admitted in a public radio interview that it was “an error of judgment” and “a premature declaration” to laud the police officers, since at that time he believed they were telling the truth about their self-defense. However, he has publicly denied any wrongdoing regarding the alleged cover-up during the first investigations.


Legacy

*Since the conclusion of the final investigations, there has been heated debate about the Cerro Maravilla incident in Puerto Rico, with some groups arguing that there are still others responsible for planning and/or ordering the plot to kill the activists as well as the subsequent cover-up, while others have argued that the incident was exaggerated by rival politicians and the media, maintaining that no conspiracy ever took place and that some of the officers incarcerated, though not all, are actually innocent."What Happened in Cerro Maravilla?"

by Maggie Bob and Miguel Rocca, Pulso.org
*Every year on July 25,
Puerto Rican Nationalists Puerto, a Spanish word meaning ''seaport'', may refer to: Places *El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain *Puerto, a seaport town in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines *Puerto Colombia, Colombia *Puerto Cumarebo, Venezuela *Puerto Galera, Oriental Mi ...
,
independence activists Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of a ...
and other sympathizers, gather atop Cerro Maravilla to honor Carlos Enrique Soto Arriví and Arnaldo Darío Rosado, as well as to defend and celebrate the Puerto Rican independence ideology. The mountain has also been christened as “El Cerro de los Mártires” (The Mountain of the Martyrs). *In 2007 the
Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña The ''Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña'' (), or ICP for short, is an institution of the Government of Puerto Rico responsible for the establishment of the cultural policies required in order to study, preserve, promote, enrich, and diffuse ...
published a book by Manuel Suarez, Samuel Dash and William Kennedy titled ''"Dos linchamientos en el Cerro Maravilla : los asesinatos policíacos en Puerto Rico y el encubrimiento del Gobierno Federal"'' (Two lynchings on Cerro Maravilla: the police killings in Puerto Rico and the cover-up by the Federal Government).


In popular culture

* The film ''
A Show of Force ''A Show of Force'' is a 1990 thriller drama film directed by Bruno Barreto. The film is based on events and theories surrounding the Maravilla Hill case in Puerto Rico adapted from Anne Nelson's book, ''Murder Under Two Flags''. Plot In 1978 ...
'' (1990) is loosely based on the events and theories behind the incident. * () is a song and video by
Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...
-winner
iLe Ile or ILE may refer to: Ile * Ile, a Puerto Rican singer * Ile District (disambiguation), multiple places * Ilé-Ifẹ̀, an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria * Interlingue (ISO 639:ile), a planned language * Isoleucine, an amino a ...
which sings about and recreates the events of that day-which she hopes will help promote and foster understanding.


See also

* Puerto Rico Highway 577 * The 1950 Peñuelas Incident


Notes


References


Works cited

*


Further reading

* Suarez, Manuel (September 1987), ''Requiem on Cerro Maravilla: The Police Murders in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Government Cover-Up'', Waterfront Press (Washington, D.C.) * Suarez, Manuel (January 2003), ''Two Lynchings on Cerro Maravilla: The Police Murders in Puerto Rico and the Federal Government Cover Up'', Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (IPRAC) Editorial House (Editorial Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña), * Germán Negrón Rivera
''What did they say in the Hall of the Dead?: Language and Identity in the Cerro Maravilla Hearings.''
Ph.D. Thesis. University of Puerto Rico. 2000.


External links



(2000), Ewin Martinez Torre, ed.
''Fallece el veterano periodista Luis Varela: El cronista, nacido en Cuba y radicado en Ponce, tuvo una destacada carrera de casi seis décadas en el periodismo deportivo y sobresalió por sus escritos sobre los asesinatos del Cerro Maravilla.''
(Veteran journalist Luis Valera passes away: the chronicler, born in Cuba and resident of Ponce, had an outstanding career spanning almost six decades in sports journalism and stood out for his writings about the Cerro Maravilla murders.) 23 June 2020. Accessed 25 June 2020. {{Authority control 1978 in Puerto Rico 1986 in Puerto Rico 1970s murders in Puerto Rico 1978 crimes in Puerto Rico 1978 murders in North America 1980s murders in Puerto Rico 1986 crimes in Puerto Rico 1986 murders in North America Political history of Puerto Rico Political scandals Human rights in Puerto Rico Events in Ponce, Puerto Rico Protest-related deaths 1959 births 1978 deaths People from San Juan, Puerto Rico Assassinated Puerto Rican people Puerto Rican murder victims Puerto Rican torturees People murdered in Puerto Rico 1953 births Puerto Rican activists Ponce, Puerto Rico July 1978 in North America Police brutality in insular areas of the United States Police misconduct in Puerto Rico